“I’ll make him an offer he can’t refuse.”

The Godfather is the story of Don Vito Corleone and his family’s battle for survival and control of the New York mafia. It also chronicles the life of Don Vito’s youngest son, Michael Corleone. He was a war hero who resolutely wanted to stay away from the family’s dark domain but fate sucked him into it when the other mafia families orchestrated an assassination attempt on his father’s life. Fearing a repeat attack, he took the offensive eliminating the person responsible for plotting the attempt. He went on to become the head of the Corleone family upon the ill health of his father and the murder of his eldest brother. To quell the threat from the other mafia families, he masterminded the killings of all their heads to achieve absolute power and became ‘The Godfather’ like his father before him.

Subsequently in The Godfather Part II, Michael was based in Nevada and owned hotels and casinos. He was confronted by a new set of adversaries who wanted him dead at any cost. He also faced betrayal from his elder brother. He was once again engaged in a battle for survival and power. He managed to outsmart his opponents and got them ruthlessly killed. His own brother was not spared. He succeeded in holding onto his position of power though his deepest fear of losing his family came true - his wife unable to bear what he had become walked out on him. Thus began his descent into alienation.

In The Godfather Part III, Michael had relocated to New York after having sold off his casinos and all his illegitimate businesses. He was set to take over a real estate conglomerate and bid adieu to the mafia. However, he faced opposition from some directors of the conglomerate and mafia members. To counter these developments, he was drawn right back in and was forced to resort to violence much against his wishes. On the personal front tragedy struck once again. A bullet meant for him ended up killing his daughter. This completed his descent into alienation from which he never recovered. It is ironical that in the end despite all his power and fortune he died a lonely man having lost the family for which he had gotten into the business in the first place.

For me, The Godfather is not only a story about the ‘Cosa Nostra’ - the mafia, but way beyond that. The mafia just serves as a backdrop... a canvas on which the saga of an Italian-American family is painted with hues of survival, ambition, power and domination, loyalty and betrayal, regret and redemption.

My interpretation of The Godfather traces the various phases in Michael Corleone’s life. It is set in the backdrop of the Indian corporate world - Raina Constructions Pvt. Ltd., a family-run construction enterprise. Its patriarch, Suresh Raina, eagerly looked forward to the day when he could start grooming his only son, Rajat Raina, to take over the reins of the organisation. On completion of his undergraduate course from a prestigious university in the US, Rajat returned home and straightaway plunged neck-deep into the family business. All was moving along as per the patriarch’s plan till suddenly Rajat discovered a new facet of his father at work - a ruthless capitalist for whom anything and everything was justified in the name of business, be it manipulation, corruption, bribing, exploitation, using muscle power to garner land for development or working hand in hand with corrupt politicians. Rajat was the complete opposite - a compassionate idealist who believed in doing business with integrity and heart. Father and son who were inseparable at home could not see eye to eye on business matters. This was the starting point of their rift.

With each passing day their relationship began to deteriorate. Rajat bent backwards to adjust himself to his father’s way of working. He knew how important it was to his father to have him work alongside him. But no matter how hard he strived, he just could not get himself to walk on his father’s path. Ultimately faced with a stalemate he packed his bags and moved to the US, away from his father’s shadow. The father felt betrayed and stopped all contact with him. This is when the rift was complete.

Back in the US, Rajat picked up the pieces of his life and started afresh. Slowly but steadily on his own terms, he went on to become a very successful banker fulfilling all his desires. However, deep down one unfilled desire kept haunting him - to make peace with his father. Unfortunately, one fateful day Rajat received the terrible news of his father’s murder. He was a victim of a conspiracy hatched by the two closest to him - his confidant whom he had begun to look upon as a surrogate son and his close friend whose career he was instrumental in shaping. Due to this untimely tragedy, Rajat finally returned home and vowed to take care of the family and realise his father’s dream of running the organisation. Thus began his journey of walking on his father’s path.

Now there was no looking back. He avenged his father’s murder and gave in to the construction industry’s corrupt system prevalent in the country, compromising his once cherished ideals and principles at every step. As the years went by, muddled with vengeance, survival and ambition, he turned ruthless and cold-blooded, thereby reaching a point of no return. Along the way he acquired great power and fortune, but in the bargain lost the one thing dearest to him - his family.

I now invite you to witness the life and making of the construction baron ‘The Godfather’, Rajat Raina.